FOCUS ON PRECISION ENGINEERING
A carriage automatically conveying a 4m x 2m mild steel sheet from one of the storage towers to the 20-metre fibre laser . Larger sheets are loaded singly onto the shuttle table .
installed an automated sheet storage and handling system that continually loads and unloads material to and from the three flat‐bed lasers , reducing the manning requirements on these machines whilst also improving productivity .
Inishowen Engineering ’ s owner and managing director , Michael McKinney , explained : “ Underlying this latest round of investment is our diversification from concentrating mainly on the agricultural , quarrying and mining sectors to supplying firms who manufacture materials handling and transportation equipment , including forklifts and multi-purpose tractors .
“ In all of the industries that we serve , component parts and assemblies we are asked to produce are becoming larger so that customers can minimise welding when manufacturing their products , hence the need for machines capable of processing 12 metrelong sheet and tube .”
He added that the tube laser cutting machine , delivered in the second quarter of 2019 , ‘ sets the company apart from most subcontractors in Ireland and also in the UK ’, broadening its capability considerably and preventing work from being lost to competitors with CNC tube processing capacity .
The tube laser can complete in five minutes what might take four hours of manual milling and drilling on different metalcutting machine tools . Moreover , some components cannot be produced at all by conventional means , so OEMs ’ design departments now have ‘ greater design freedom , knowing that more complex parts can be produced at an economical price ’, according to the subcontractor .
For subcontractors to win this business , they need to invest in the best and most modern production equipment to satisfy customer demand and expectation
Automation and laser cutting
The company now has a new Bystronic handling system , which comprises two 10-metre high storage towers with 82 locations for 4m x 2m sheet , together with loading and unloading equipment for the three fibre lasers . McKinney explained that , previously , the only reason for the machines to be idle was due to material not being fed to them quickly enough .
Now that sheet supply has been automated , it is delivered more rapidly to the shuttle tables , enabling virtually uninterrupted production . McKinney estimates that output from the two smaller machines is up by 30- to 50 per cent . Previously , the subcontractor was perpetually 400 to 500 hours behind with laser cutting but , within three weeks of the lasers being supplied with sheet from the Bystronic storage system , the backlog had disappeared . A further advantage of automatic material feeding is that it is now easier to promote rush jobs to the top of the queue .
The two smaller fibre laser cutting machines in Drumfries replaced models with 6kW CO 2 power sources , installed in 2007 and 2010 . McKinney advised that the former technology is five times as productive when processing 2mm mild steel , cutting at 40m / min . The advantage declines somewhat as sheet thickness increases - up to 12mm material is regularly cut - but the sheer speed of the fibre machines across all gauges only serves to underline the need for efficient , automated delivery of material to the point of cutting .
Michael McKinney commented : “ The BySprint Fibers not only cut significantly faster but also cost less to service and run , as there are no optics , no need for assist gas and electricity consumption is much lower . The greater level of reliability means that we are confident to leave the machines running unattended overnight .”
Close-up of the Xpert 40 in operation .
Increased press brake requirement
The increasing size of components going through the factory necessitated a press braking cell to bend up to 12 metre lengths , hence the installation at the start of 2019 of two Bystronic Xpert 6-metre , 650-tonne capacity press brakes . They are positioned side by side so that they can be used individually or in tandem , mirroring an earlier purchase of a pair of 400-tonne / four-metre press brakes .
Another view of the automated storage system showing the handling arrangement serving the two other fibre laser machines .
44 | sheetmetalplus . com | ISMR February 2021